Apparatus for separating leaks from tight cans



- 1,495,460 I A. R. THOMPSON H 1 APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING LEAKS F ROMTIGHT CANS Filed Nov. 7. 1923 a sheets-sheet i fifeveni 0.1".

N O S P M O H T R A May 27 1924.

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING LEAKS FROM TIGHT CANS Filed Nov. '7. 1923 3Sheets-Sheet 3 May 27 1924.

A. THOMPSON APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING LEAKS FROM TIGHT CANS Filed Nov.'7. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 fmven i 01 mm /e. wax WK,

se arating leaks from tight mediately conveyed to of cans, both'tightand-leaks, bein Patents 'ay 27, 1924.

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" mumm e November 7, was. Serial menses.

To all whom concern:

:Be it known that 1, ALBERT'R.THOMPBON, a citizen of the. United States,residing at San J ose; in the county, of Santa Clara and 8 State A ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Apparastus for Separating' Leaks from Ti ht Cans, of which'the following is aspeci cation.

My invention relates to an ap aratus for productfiled sealed cans. Theobject of my invention i to provide a machine capable of operatiiig.continuously to advance a serie s of product-filled sealed cans, tosuccessively an automatically select from said series of advancing cansthe leaky cans, known in the art as .leaks, and to separately dischargethe leaks and the tight, or perfect cans A fur- 'ther object-ofmyinvention is to rovide such a machine which is capable o actingsuccessfully upon the cans immediately subsequent tothe cooking or otherheating pro'cess, or immediately'subsequent to the, pressure, coolingprocess, so that the leaks may be separated at once, and the ti ht cansimthe labeling machine, packed in cases and placed in the 'cars forshipment. g 90 It is the present practice, particularly in the-canningof .milk and other food products, to stack the sealedand. finallyprocessed cans for a suflicintlength of time, often as much as threeweeks or longer, to enable the product in the leaky, cans to begin toferment, thereby causmg suchcans .to'- swell, I and thus permit themtobedistinguished from the tlght cans. The leaks'or swells? are then removedby hand, the entire batch- *exam ined for this purplose. Thisp'roce arenot -only,entails consi erable labor,zin thesorting of the cans,

ment, thereby tying up capital and necessibut also delays their ship;

-. the ends of the ti ht cans are temporarily y the increased pressure Iof the conakycans are having bulged outwardly within, caused .by theheatin' tents, whereas the ends of the le fiat, or normal, the interiorpressure I leaked out. I When: the cans emerge from the pressure cooler,-or otherdevice-in which they are subjected-to exterior fluid pressure,however, a similar but, opposite efiect takes place, i. e'I the ends ofthe leaky cans are temporarily bulged, the pressure of. the coolingchamber havmg leaked into-the cans,

and herefore bulging-theirends when they are removed from thepressurechamber unain leaks out,

cm the cooler interior prestil such/interior pressure a whereas the tiht cans come with flat or dished ends, the sure having been reduced bythe cooling of thecontents. This difierence in the en bul e'of the cansis not great enou h tobe 'rea ily detected by the eye, especial y whenthe cans are traveling at hundred per minute, as I at the resent time,but by the use-of my machine t e cans arese arated, accurately andautomatically, their ends are 7 amount. y separate the leaks from the tithey come from the cooker-or 0t effect, or as bulged by. even a; slightaccor ing to whether or not cooler, or two machines-maybe used, one

followingthe cooker and theother following the pressure cooler, whichescape the firstseparation, or which develop in the cooler,are'separated in the second machine. My. machine. may also be used, ifdesired, to separate the tight cansjat any time after the finalrocessing, as will becomeapparent from the to be underollowingspecification. It is stood, moreover, that. theform and 09nstruction ofthemachine may be varied tating the provision of storage "space. .By'within the limits of theiclaims hereto apes ing. My

. paratus for automatically cans according invention comprises, broadly,an apseparating the .to the extent to which their ends are bulged. Whenthe sealed cansor other heating efiect,

come fiom the cooker being possible to ship the.

Eended, 'from' that hereinafter shown and of the invention as expressedin said claims. machine embodying my invention will 'now be fullydescribed with reference to the accompanying drawin whereinv Fig. 1 is apart sectional end elevatlon of' my:1 apparatus as-viewed from thedischarge en.--"'

Fig. 2. is a de elevation.

so that any leaks the swells from 'ribed, without departing from thespirit reduced in size,

of Fig. 4:.

,Fig tj is a part sectional detail of the gate retaining spring and dashpot.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 1 designates a frame, in which isjournaled a horizontal shaft 2, said shaft being continuously rotated bygearing 3 from a power receiving member, as forexample, a pulley 4, asshown in Fig. 1. Fixed upon the shaft 2 is a turret comprising a pair ofspaced disk members 5 and 6, each having radially disposedpockets 7,Figs. 1, 2 and 3, formed on its inner face, the pockets of said memberslyin opposite each other and being adapted or the reception of the cansindicated in dotted lines at 8 in Figs. 1 and '2.

The cans 8 are fed into the pockets 7 successivelyin any desired manner,as for example, by an inclined chute 9, Fig. 2, and are carried by saidpockets to either one of two separate discharge chutes 10 and 11, thechute 10 being positioned above the chute 11. If the cans are permittedto rest undisturbed in the pockets 7, they are dis charged bygravityinto the lower chute 11, said chute having an inwardly extending tongue11', lyin between the turret disks 5 and 6, and a apted to receive'thecans from the pockets 7; but inorder to divert certain cans to theup'perchute 10 there is provided a swinging gate 12, Figs. land 2extending between the turret disks 5 and 6 and secured to a transverseshaft 13. S'ai gate, when swung into its lower position, as

indicated in Fig. 2, lies in the path ofthe' cans, and diverts them fromthe pockets 7 to the upper chute '10, but when elevated, by mechanism tobe presently described, occupies a. position above the path of the cans,and permits said cans to pass beneath it to the lower chute 11.

The gate shaft 13 carries an arm 14, Figs. 1 and 6, at one end, uponwhichoperates a spring15 to normally keep the gate in its lowermostposition. The other end of the shaft 13 also carries an arm-16, Figs.

' 1 and 2, connected by a link 17 with a lever 18, said lever beingfulcrumed upon a stud 19 and having an upper extension 20 which carriesa dog or trip 21. The connection between the link 17 and the lever 18 isa sliding one, formed by a slot 22in said link, so that the lever 18 maymove in one direction without afiecting said link. A spring 22 normallyretains the lever 18 at the extreme left hand end of said slot 22, asshown in Fig. 2.

The turret disk 6 has a series of adjustable stop screws 23, Figs. 1 and3, one positioned at the approximate center of each.

neeaeeo pocket 7. The other disk 5 carries a series.

of laterally movable plungers 24:, one being shown in detail in Fig. 1,positioned opposite the stop screws 23, said plungers being forcedinwardly, against the can ends, by springs 24, and the other ends of thecans being forced against the stop screws 23. The outer end of eachplunger 24:, carries a cross-head 25,. which slides upon and is guidedbya fixed stud 25, and said cross head 25 carries a roller 26, adapted totravel upon the face of a stationary cam 27, by means of which theplunger 24 is held out of contact with the can end for the greater partofthe revolution of the turret. Each plunger cross-head 25 also carriesa projecting finger28,which may, under certain conditions to be'presently described, engage the trip 21 of the lever 20 as the turretre- =volves.

Figs. 1, igand 5, which permits the plunger 24 to be moved, by itsspring 24-, into contact with the can end. If the ends of thatparticular can are not bulged outwardly, the plunger 24 will be forcedinwardly to such an extent thatits finger 28 en ages the trip 21 of thelever 20, as shown in Fig. 1, and as the turret continues to revolve,said lever 20 will. be moved, thereby elevating the gate 12 in time toallow the non-bulged can to pass beneath it and continue in the pocket 7to the lower discharge chute 11. The cam 27 is so shaped that theplunger 24 is withdrawn from the can end as soon as the finger 28 hasactuated the lever 20, so that the can rolls freely out of its pocket 7ineither discharge position.

If, however, the ends of the can are bulged, the plunger 24 will be heldout far enough, by contact with the bulged can end, to cause the finger28 to miss the trip 21, so that the gate 12 is not elevated, and thebulged can is engaged by and rolls out upon said gate into the upperdischarge chute 10. Each successive can is acted upon in the mannerdescribed, with the result that the bulged cans are discharged into theupper chute 10, and the flat-end cans into the lower chute 11.Therefore, if the machine is operating upon cans coming from a cooker orother heating effect, the leaks will be discharged into the lowerchutell, and the tight cans into the it is operatin on cans coming froma pressure cooler, tie leaks will come out in the upper chute 10, andthe tight cans in the lower chute 11. The degree of end bulge whichcauses the cans to be discharged into the lower chute 11 can beregulated by adjusting the stop screws sothat an accurate separation iseiiected betweenthe leaks and the tight cans.

The gate 12 is provided with a dash pot, to. cushion its downward returnmovement.

upper chute 10; but if" r 12o Said dash pot comprises a cylindrical 30,Fig. 6, preferably positioned within the spring 15 and pivotally securedto the frame by a stud 31, and a piston 32 operating within saidcylinder, and connected with the arm 14 of the shaft 18. The cylinder 3Ois provided with an air port 33 ad-justably controlled b a set screw 34,sothat the cushioning e ect of the dash pot may be regulated. Theadmission of air to the cylinder 30 on the up-stroke of the piston 32 isfacilitated by any suitable means, as for example a cup-leather 35 uponsaid piston.

The gate operating mechanism is protected against accidental backwardrotation of the turret by the slot 22 of the link 17, said slotpermitting the lever 18 to move freely in the reverse direction.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for separating leaks from tight cans comprising arotating turret adapted to receive, advance, and discharge a series ofcans; a member adapted to be moved into the pathv of said cans forremoving them from said turret in advance of their normal dischargeposition; and mechanism controlled by the size of the cans for actuatingsaid removing member.

2. An apparatus for separating leaks from tight cans comprising arotating turretadapted to receive, advance, and discharge a series ofcans; a member adapted to be moved into the path of said cans to removethem from said turret in advance of their normal discharge position; andmechanism ried by said turret for operating said re-' moving memberaccording to a difference in end bulge of the cans.

4. An apparatus for separating leaks from tight cans comprising arotating turret having a can receiving pocket; means for positivelyejecting a can from said pocket;

I and mechanism controlled by the degree of end bulge oi the can foractuating said ejecting means.

5, An apparatus for separating leaks from tight cans comprising arotating turret having a can receiving pocket; me-ansfor positivelyejecting a can from said pocket; and mechanism carried by the turret andadapted to coact with the ends of the can for actuating said ejectingmeans. according to the degree of end bulge of said can.

6. An apparatus. for separating leaks from tight cans comprising arotating turret having a can receiving pocket; means for removing a canfrom said pocket; a pair of spaced members carried by the turret andadapted to coact with the ends of the can; and connections between oneof said members and said removing means for actuating the latteraccording to the degree of end bulge of the can.

7. An apparatus for separating leaks from tight cans comprising arotating turret having a can receiving pocket; means for removing a canfrom said pocket; means carried by the turret for abutting against oneend of the can; a movable member carried by the turret for coacting withthe abutting against one end of the can; a movable member carried by theturret for coacting with the other end of the can; and connectionsbetween said movable member and said'removing means for actuating thelatter according to the degree of end bulge of the can.

9. An apparatus for separating leaks from tight cans comprising a turrethaving a can receiving pocket; means for removing a can from saidpocket; a trip for operating said removing means; and a member carriedby the turret and adapted to coact with the end of the can, said memherbeing positioned to engage said trip only when in contact with a canhaving a pre-determined degree of end bulge.

other end of the can; and connections be- 10; An apparatus forseparating leaks from tight cans comprising a turret having a canreceiving pocket; means for removing a can from said pocket; a trip foroperatin said removing means; a member carried y the. turret and adaptedto coact with the end of the can; said member being positioned to engagesaid trip only when in contact with a can having a predetermined degreeof end bulge; means for holding said. member in contact with the canend; and means for withdrawing said member out of such contact while thecan is being received in and removed from said pocket. a 4

' In testimony whereof I have signed my name thisJ specification.

ALBERT R.- THOMPSON.

